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The family of Walter Scott has expressed forgiveness, but said that they are glad to see Michael Slager held accountable. Walter was killed in April 2015.

The State charged North Charleston police officer Michael Slager with murder or voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man. Walter Scott was shot in the back 5 times.

Trial began on November 3, 2016, with closing arguments on November 30, 2016. We followed the trial on this blog with part 1; part 2; and part 3.

Slager said in his report that Walter took his taser from him, giving him justification to use deadly force. However, a by-stander’s video was released shortly after the deadly encounter that shows Slager unholstered his weapon and fire as Walter ran away. The video also shows that Slager walked back and retrieved his taser, which was dropped to the ground before Walter ran. Slager placed his taser next to Walter’s dead body. After the release of the video, Slager’s attorney then withdrew his representation and Slager was terminated from his job and charged with murder. Read the rest of this entry →

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager was charged with murder or voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man. Walter Scott was shot in the back 5 times. Slager’s state trial began on November 3, 2016, with closing arguments on November 30, 2016. It ended with a hung jury. Slager is scheduled to be retried by the State of South Carolina, and also by the federal government. His trial was reported on this blog.

Meanwhile, three men had filed lawsuits against North Charleston for being wrongfully or excessively tased by Michael Slager. Two have reached settlement. Mario Givens was awarded $27,500 and Jerome Stanley $50,000 for their 2013 run-ins with Slager.

“They were among three people who filed actions in 2015 amid intense scrutiny of the city’s police force. An eyewitness video of patrolman Michael Slager shooting the fleeing black man sparked the frenzy.

The men alleged excessive use of the stun gun, though Slager’s lawyers have defended his record as exemplary.”

I have a bit more confidence of the federal trial because they are going to argue the charge of lying to investigators. Once Slager’s lie is proven, the verdict of guilty should come easy. But, we know that all jurors don’t “see” the same. The month of May cannot come soon enough.

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager was charged with murder or voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man. Walter Scott was shot in the back 5 times.

Trial began on November 3, 2016, with closing arguments on November 30, 2016. We followed the trial on this blog with part 1; part 2; and part 3.

A by-stander’s video was released shortly after the deadly encounter that shows Slager unholstered his weapon and fire as Walter ran away. Slager’s attorney then withdrew his representation and Slager was terminated from his job and charged with murder.

On Friday, the jury told judge Judge Newman that one juror was holding out for a not-guilty verdict. Subsequently, the jury told Judge Newman that with further instructions on the law, they might be able to come to a unanimous decision.

After sending questions to the court this morning, and receiving answers to those questions, the jury sent a note saying they were deadlocked.

Judge Newman declared a mistrial.

Michael Slager also faces federal charges, including violation of Walter Scott’s civil rights. That trial is scheduled for next year.

The murder trial of ex-cop Michael Slager began on November 3rd, and you can find the videos of the trial at the following link up to Thursday, November 10th. There was no trial on Veteran’s Day.

Post and Courier reports that the trial has been contentious. Judge Clifton Newman has cautioned defense attorneys to not testify themselves, but the defense continues using that tactic.

During trial, you hear “SLED” allot. That is the acronym for South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Here are some highlights of the trial;

The bystander who filmed the killing, Feidin Santana, has testified. He stood strong against the defense trying to get him to agree that there was a “fight,” and Santana continued correcting the defense that he saw no fight.

Slager’s former colleagues have testified that he told them that Walter Scott managed to wrestle his taser away from him and pointed it at him, prompting him to fire his service weapon.

On Tuesday, Almon Brown, a state crime scene investigator, testified that he was concerned when he examined Scott’s body because what he saw didn’t match what he had been told about how Scott died.

Levi Miles, a private investigator for Michael Slager’s former defense lawyer, testified that Slager showed him during a re-enactment that Walter Scott was coming toward the officer before the gunfire. When he compared that with what he saw in a video of the shooting, Miles said, “That part of it seemed to be a lot different.”

Like this:

Caterpillars, butterflies, moths, a certain roach, and all creatures great and small,

Good morning!

Here’s a heartfelt welcome and thanks to all subscribers and visitors. Your support and interest is greatly appreciated. I do try to get around to visiting new subscribers who have blogs as soon as possible, but have fallen behind. In the last month, we have picked up 50 new subscribers in which the majority are bloggers. I’ll be around to visit as soon as I can.

I’m not on Twitter much, but when I am I tweet links to other blogs of posts that my Twitter followers might find interesting. If you have a Twitter account, please consider following me on Twitter @XenaBb7. I will follow back.

I was humbly blessed by blogger supabutterfly who honored me with a post of accomplishments. He dug out things I did not know, such as having this blog cited in a footnote in a book published by the University of New Mexico Press. Here’s a huge thanks to supabutterfly for his encouragement and support. Read the rest of this entry →

On April 4, 2015, in North Charleston, South Carolina, at approximately 9:30 a.m., Walter Scott was pulled over for a non-functioning brake-light. At some point, Walter got out of his car and ran. He was pursued by police officer Michael Slager. The situation ended with Slager shooting 50-year old Walter 5 times in the back as Walter ran away from him.

A by-stander recorded the portion of the incident where Walter ran, Slager fired his gun, and then picked up a taser and placed it by Walter’s body. Slager’s defense centered around the taser. He alleged that Walter used the taser on him and was coming towards him, causing him to shoot Walter. Slager’s original lawyer, David Aylor, withdrew as counsel within hours of the release of the video. Read the rest of this entry →

On April 4, 2015, Walter Scott was stopped for a traffic violation by South Carolina police officer Michael Slager. Fifty-year old Walter ran, and Slager shot Walter 8 times in the back, killing him. A man walking by captured the event on video.

Slager made a report to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigator saying that he shot Walter as Walter was moving towards him with the officer’s taser. The video shows differently, and also that Slager placed his taser on the ground beside Walter’s dead body.

Slager was arrested and charged with murder. He was fired from the police force and placed in solitary confinement. In January, Slager was released on half a million dollars bail and placed under house arrest, allowed to only leave for work, church, medical appointments and appointments with attorneys. Read the rest of this entry →

Former North Charleston officer Michael Slager was indicted by a grand jury in the shooting death of Walter Scott. He has been charged with murder. Slager was arrested on April 7, 2015, when a citizen who took the video of Slager shooting Walter made it public. If convicted, Slager faces a sentence of 30 years to life without parole. Slager was denied bond and has been in jail. It is said that Dylan Roof, the man who killed 9 people in an AME church, has a cell next to or across from Slager.

The video of Slager shooting 8 times at Walter as Walter ran became very controversial. Slager shot Walter 5 times in the back, killing him. Those who tend to support the shooting, like Slager, argue what took place before the actual shooting. In effort to have the court set bond, Slager’s attorney argued that Walter had cocaine and alcohol in his system. Slager’s story of Walter trying to take his taser and other things do not appear to justify shooting Walter in the back as he was running away. Read the rest of this entry →

A grand jury has indicted former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager on a murder charge in the fatal shooting of unarmed Walter Scott.

The April 4, 2015 killing was captured on video by a bystander. It showed that Slager fired 8 times at the 50-year old Walter Scott as Scott’s back was turned, running away from Slager.

Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson announced the indictment this morning. Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty because under South Carolina law, it requires aggravating circumstances. If convicted, the 33-year old Slager faces 30 years to life in prison. Read the rest of this entry →

As expected it didn’t take long for the conspiracy theorist to surface regarding the killing of Walter Scott and the arrest of Michael Slager for murder. The conspiracies range from hearing stories about a magical leaf that Slager dropped near Walter’s body, to hearing about an alleged ground attack by Walter Scott. Now we are hearing an outright lie claiming that Walter somehow tazed Slager.

I find it a bit disturbing that the blogs pushing this nonsense also forgot to mention the fact that Slager walked back to the area where he fired the shots that killed Walter, picked up the tazer, and brought it back over to Walters laid, and dropped it right next to Walters body.

But it doesn’t stop there. Based on the dashcam footage, we know that the tazer was deployed as Slager stated “Tazer, Tazer, Tazer.”

Slager did not say that Walter took his tazer until after he killed him.

Slager did not say at any point that Walter used the tazer on him. With at least 4 different audio recordings, Slager never once stated that he was tazed.